The Necklace
by Spinda Hater Ninety Seven
Summary: Ash has always worn a necklace. He never took it off. He always cares for it. Dawn gets curious on his birthday and finally asks. Bestfriendsshipping, technically. One-shot. Happy Birthday, Ash Ketchum!


**Today is Ash Ketchum's birthday. In honor of it, I am posting a fanfic about an item Ash always has, but he keeps it hidden most of the time. Here we go!**

It was bugging her.

Throughout their whole entire journey, Dawn had noticed that Ash had always been wearing a necklace chain. The only time she saw the necklace part of it was whenever they went swimming. Even then, he didn't take it off. He never, ever took it off. Not at night, not during a battle, not even when he was half-naked, about to hit the showers.

She wanted to know.

It was silver. There was a half of a puzzle piece on it; it said _Best. _No matter how long she stared at it, she couldn't figure it out. _Best what? Best Wishes? Best of Luck? Best picture? What does it mean?_

On May 22, the day Ash turned fourteen, after he spent an hour on the phone, she finally asked him about it.

He just smiled and replied:

"It's from my best friend."

So _that's _what the "Best" meant! But it still didn't explain it all. _Who had the other half?_

That night at dinner, as Brock sat across from her and Ash sat next to him, she asked. He rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Guess I gotta tell you the whole story."

"What story?"

"The story of my best friend and I."

The other two looked at each other, but neither said anything. Ash told the story, laughing in most parts, and tears coming into his eyes at others. When he finished after two short hours, Dawn understood. She understood it all.

He met a young girl by the name of Michelle with a twin named Black when the two were three years old. They hit it off right away. They hung out with each other every day, and they spent the night at each other's house every night but Saturday. Michelle had to go to church the next morning.

After a couple of months, tragedy struck. Ash's father had left. Tears came to his eyes as he recalled the horrific night. She helped him through it, and that was when he started going to church. He loved it; he never wanted to go after it ended. This was when Ash was allowed to stay at her house every single night, and when she was allowed to stay at his every single night. This was also when Ash's older sister, Amber, and Michelle's older sister, Cocoa, started their journey.

When the two were five, they both started at Pallet Town Elementary School. When tears came to his eyes at this point, the two were confused. They had Ms. Lleva (Pronounced Yay-va) as their teacher. They met Troy and Turner that year; Troy was a shy little boy who lived about five minutes away from Ash and Turner was a hyper girl in first grade that lived about three minutes away from Michelle. Ash and Michelle now lived next to each other; it took about thirty seconds to run across the path and knock on the door.

The next year, with their mean teacher Mr. Slidem, Michelle now had to face a tragedy like Ash. Her grandmother died at the age of 74. Ash kept her upbeat after the funeral, in which he went to also, but neither could do the same with Black. He became stoic; he never laughed, never got mad, never smiled. After a month or two, they gave up. They just couldn't bring him back to how he used to be. That day was also the day that Michelle announced that Cocoa was going to be a model and a fashion designer.

In second grade, Michelle developed a crush on Mr. Oldhowl. He was young and apparently cute. Ash thought that he was nice; he was their very first male teacher. His favorite part about second grade was that Mr. Oldhowl gave Michelle her nickname: Curfy. He came in and heard the two talking about their curfew whenever they were at Michelle's house. He was surprised that she knew the word, so he started calling her Curfy. It stuck. Ash also told her that Amber was now also a fashion designer and a model.

Halfway through second grade, they went to Ash's grandfather's farm to live for two years. They were right next to Sunyshore City. Grandpa Ketchum's farm was the biggest in all of Sinnoh. He gave them each an egg. Ash's hatched into a Torchic, in which he named Torchy, and Curfy's hatched into a Mareep. When it evolved into an Ampharos, she nicknamed it Bob. Tears came back into Ash's eyes as he told the part of the story about his grandpa. This confused them both again.

When they were nine, they went back to Pallet in order for Ash to start his journey. He started cyber school so he could keep up with his studies, and the night before he left, he caught Curfy. She gave him a puzzle piece necklace, and she kept the other half.

As he told it, he sighed and quoted her. "Because my puzzle is never complete without you by my side as my best friend."

Afterwards, Brock asked him why he was crying a couple of times. Ash sighed, knowing that he would have to explain.

"I cried talking about Pallet Town Elementary because for budget cuts, they're talking about closing it down." Tears came to his eyes again, and he quickly wiped them away. "And my grandpa… He's in the hospital with pneumonia…" These words came out in a whisper, and he looked away, with eyes half closed. "He has a really slim chance of living…"

A hand landed on his shoulder, startling the group. They turned and saw a girl with brown hair in pigtails and blue eyes standing there. She wore a pink tank top, an open black vest, blue skinny jeans, pink tennis shoes, and…

_The other half of his necklace._

Ash stood up, grinning. "Curfy!"

"Hello, Ketchup Man."

The two embraced, both of their puzzles now complete.


End file.
